Rotated Sounders Fall to Chivas, Brian Schmetzer Motivated By Team Effort in Defeat
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Seattle Sounders defender Gallatin Sandnes kicks the ball during a Leagues Cup match against Chivas de Guadalajara on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (Courtesy of Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]
It was expected that iconic Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara would bring in plenty of fans to rival that of the host Seattle Sounders in Wednesday's Leagues Cup Phase One finale.
You can say they did that, as the stands were chock-full of fans donning the classic red and white stripes, chanting "CHIIIIIVAS" as the Liga MX giant downed Seattle 2-1.
The result left both teams at 1-2 in the tournament, ending their respective runs in the competition, which Seattle won for the first time in 2025. But the Sounders, now losers of eight of their last nine games, had already prioritized a busy upcoming MLS stretch by rotating heavily against Chivas — head coach Brian Schmetzer started four Tacoma Defiance call-ups in the game and changed to an unusual 3-4-3 formation for this one.
Schmetzer knew his team would need a win of Biblical proportions plus outside help to advance. With key players like Cristian Roldan, Yeimar, Jordan Morris, Pedro de la Vega and others out with injury, Schmetzer played it safe on Wednesday. He rested key pieces like Albert Rusnak, Jackson Ragen, and Nouhou for a Sunday bout with Western Conference-leading Vancouver as Seattle hopes to get back into the playoff picture at 7-7-3.
Watching a team full of younger guys hang around with a quality opponent on Wednesday, however, made the longtime Seattle skipper emotional postgame.
"That's what it means to wear the jersey," Schmetzer said of his team's effort. "The way those guys fought was the best thing about this evening. Yeah, we didn't win, I get it."
Club legend and goalkeeper Stefan Frei, on duty for this tournament in place of MLS starter Andrew Thomas, saw Wednesday as a chance to keep crawling out of this team-wide slump.
"We're trying to find positives right now," Frei said. "Even though the tournament (was) essentially gone, we're trying to create something today that we can build upon for the weekend when we play Vancouver."
A Brief Recap
Seattle came out ahead early, however, leveraging a tap-in goal from Defiance call-up Gallatin Sandnes to take a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute before holding Chivas off the board for the rest of the half.
But the side from Guadalajara came out with a renewed vigor in the second half, notching chance after chance to put Frei to the test. The Chivas broke through in the 60th thanks to a Luis Rey goal before bringing on a key sub in forward Santiago Sandoval.
Sandoval headed service from Luis Romo on his first touch of the game, scoring what proved to be the winner in the 71st minute. Seattle, backed by an infusion of typical contributors off the bench, would generate chances late. But missed chances from striker Osaze De Rosario put a cap on the loss.
By the game's end, Chivas' second-half resurgence netted them a 12-2 shots-on-target win, forcing Frei into multiple diving saves to keep Seattle in it.
But at the end of the day, the press from Guadalajara kept a Seattle attack that was consistently creating chances early out of dangerous spots almost entirely. Only when starting talent like Paul Rothrock, Peter Kingston and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi entered the game midway through the second half was Seattle able to create some looks.
"What I wanted to do was start with a group of young, hungry players and then make subs in the second half to try and win the game," Schmetzer said.
To his credit, Rothrock and Kingston helped create a flurry of crosses into the box, but solid recoveries from Chivas and a poor finish attempt by De Rosario in the 79th minute especially spelled the end for Seattle.
Schmetzer Reinforces Internal Development Over Transfers
As the summer transfer window continues on without any movement from Sounders GM Craig Waibel and the Sounders remain one spot out of the MLS Cup Playoffs, fans have grown weary of a Seattle front office that didn't make a single move last season either.
The Sounders have instead leaned on Tacoma-grown talent like De Rosario last summer and Peter Kingston recently to fill in the gaps when injury bugs strike. But Schmetzer believes nights like Wednesday, with a Defiance-heavy lineup giving a strong Chivas squad a real run, are the key to maintaining the winning ways of a team that's claimed every trophy possible.
"We talked again about belief… we challenged Mark (O'Neill) and Charlie (Gaffney) and Gallatin (Sandnes) and Edson (Carli)," Schmetzer said of the lead-up to Wednesday. "They needed to believe in themselves and believe that as a collective, if they helped each other, we'd have a chance to win.
"You look at Chivas, they've had guys that were playing in the World Cup three weeks ago."
To Schmetzer's point, Wednesday marked the first Sounders start for Tacoma call-ups Gaffney (72 minutes), Carli (full game), Sandnes (full game), O'Neill (84 minutes) and offseason signee Ryan Sailor (72 minutes). The reserve-powered Sounders kept a Chivas squad housing World Cup talent like Roberto Alvarado, Diego Campillo and others off the board for 60 minutes before folding.
He also singled out Frei, who made 10 saves on Wednesday after making 16 a week ago in Toluca, as an example for the squad to strive toward.
#Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer was choked up describing the effort his rotated squad showed in a 2-1 L to #Chivas tonight.
This is him talking, with an omitted f-bomb, about how good GK Stefan Frei was, and how his example is better for the team than signings.@EmeraldSpectrum pic.twitter.com/nbHAoAnthy— Qasim Ali (@qasimasports) August 13, 2026
"There's the example of a good pro. Comes to work every day, shows everybody that he's f***ing extremely good at what he does. And that's the example that you want because that's going to take this franchise further than any sort of TAM signing or anything like that," Schmetzer said. "That effort from that group of guys is going to get us a long way, and it's going to be the basis of what this franchise stands for."
For guys like Sandnes, no pep talk was needed to play with heart on Wednesday.
"It's a younger squad out there with all of us," the 18-year-old said. "Some guys that I've grown up with in the academy, you know, we've dreamed about this moment, and so to share it with a bunch of other younger guys… is unreal."
How Applicable Is a Game Like Wednesday to the Remainder of the Year?
It's certainly not tactically applicable given some of these players are still a ways away from netting a first-team deal. But paired with a 3-0 win over Queretaro on Sunday, Seattle is getting some of its grit back following the seven-game losing streak that's landed it at 7-7-3 in league play.
Schmetzer wants to make sure first-team players like Rusnak, who will presumably return for the Vancouver game and beyond, are motivated by the effort the reserves put in on Wednesday.
"Oh, I made an example for the first team, trust me on that," Schmetzer said. "I'm looking at guys that think they're the first team. Looked them dead in the eye when I was talking."
In terms of the players on the pitch, Frei obviously stole the show, but O'Neill was serviceable, going 7-for-11 in duels in his midfield spot while Sandnes tracked back to break up a Chivas counter late in the first half, keeping the ball in play by sprinting 30 yards to the sideline.
Sailor led the game with 16 defensive contributions, and the 27-year-old from Inter Miami and the University of Washington looked every bit the part of a do-it-all Seattle center back - a spot the Sounders have been thin at this season. Gaffney and Carli were on the quieter end on the right side of the build, as bringing on Kossa-Rienzi for Gaffney opened up that attacking side more late.
But the nature of this game, with its unusual lineups and low stakes, has put its prospective impact in an odd place.
If this loss is looked back on fondly, it will have been as a rally cry — a call on the usual contributors to kick into a new gear. If things don't get back on track in the next two months, it'll likely be forgotten entirely.
Up Next
The Sounders are back to work on Sunday against the Whitecaps, looking to once again usurp a team they beat twice in Concacaf play this past spring.
